Glycine Supplements Guide

Sometimes with our busy lifestyles or the lack of availability of certain foods, it can be difficult to obtain all of the nutrients your doctor recommends for you to consume daily through your diet.

This is where supplements can help. Used correctly, they can complement your diet to fill in the nutritional gaps that you are unable to fill with your meals.

One such supplement is glycine. To help you decide if glycine is right for you, below is all you need to know about what are glycine supplements, their benefits and possible side effects, how to incorporate them as a part of a healthy lifestyle, and what you should look for when shopping for a good glycine supplement.

While many people may not be familiar with the term glycine, they are using it every day to enable their bodies to function at optimal levels. This amino acid is not only essential for strengthening the muscles but it is also useful for metabolic and cognitive functions. Glycine helps in processing and transporting nutrients such as glycogen to the cells. It was first discovered by French Chemist, Henri Braconnot in 1820.

What Is a Glycine?

According to Dr. Axe, glycine can be found in your brain, skin, muscles, and connective tissues such as ligaments and tendons.

As an amino acid, glycine is also one of the important ingredients to creating protein. Your body can make some glycine naturally, but other sources come from protein sources such as animal products (meat and dairy) and legumes (beans and lentils).

However, these food sources only provide a small amount of glycine—the average diet only consists of 2 grams of glycine daily.

The name glycine originated from Greek word glykys, which means sweet. Glycine is an amino acid that helps the body to make proteins. The body can generate this amino acid from other chemicals, so it is treated as a conditionally essential amino acid. In our bodies, this amino acid is concentrated in the muscle tendons, connective tissues, and the skin. It is the primary amino acid in collagen and gelatin.

Glycine is useful to our bodies in many ways. It plays an important role in the synthesis of collagen. To maintain stability, glycine should be present in a third of amino acid in collagen. It also vital in providing flexibility to enzyme structure and function in their active state. Glycine enables them to change conformation in order to bind well with substrates.

In addition to this, glycine plays an important in coordinating molecule movement in the body. It also plays a vital role in the transmission of chemical signals to the human brain. That is why there has been a lot of interest in testing the effectiveness of glycine in improving memory and controlling schizophrenia.

Where do glycine supplements come from?

You can get this protein from your daily meal. A normal meal has about 2 grams of glycine. Any dietary protein can provide some glycine, but collagenous proteins are the best source. The main foods that are rich in glycine are fish, bone broth, meat, legumes, and dairy. According to USDA Food Composition Database, an egg has 0.4 grams of glycine per 100 grams of a whole egg, while milk has about 0.08 grams per 100 grams of whole milk. Most seafood and meats have about 1-2 grams per 100 grams of consumed food.

Glycine can also be found in supplement form. While it is more beneficial to acquire it from natural foods, the amount of glycine you will get from supplements is more than what you will get in foods. Some people like applying glycine directly on their skin.

Generally, humans do not synthesize enough glycine to enable the body to synthesize collagen and other important compounds. To satisfy these metabolic requirements, an adult requires about 15 grams of glycine each day. The 12 grams will go into the synthesis of collagen. Unfortunately, only 2.5 grams of glycine is synthesized each day. Considering the important role glycine plays in the production of collagen, this is a big deficiency. This is where glycine supplements come in to fill the gap.

Using a cream that has glycine and other amino acids could be effective in reducing pain in patients with leg ulcers. It could also be useful in reducing the damages of ischemic stroke when glycine is placed under the tongue. Glycine is marketed for a number of other uses, but more evidence is needed to prove the effectiveness of glycine for those uses.

When a study was conducted to check the relationship between blood glucose and insulin it found out that use of 75mg of glycine per kilogram of fat-free mass and 25 grams of glucose led to a reduction of peak glucose by about 15% . This indicates that modest doses of glycine taken with meals could lead to a reduction of postprandial glucose response.

Precautions

Glycine is generally a safe supplement for most people. However, there are some possible side effects to taking glycine supplements.

One possible side effect experienced by the general public are stomach complaints such as nausea, vomiting, and upset stomach.

As mentioned before, glycine supplements should not be taken in conjunction with clozapine, as the combination can worsen symptoms of schizophrenia, and patients who have suffered a stroke should only take this supplement under the advice of their doctor to avoid the risk of causing more damage.

Always speak with a medical professional or doctor before taking any supplements. Always read the product label for instructions and directions.

Taking Glycine Supplements

According to WebMD, you can take glycine in a couple of different ways depending on the condition you want to address. Most prefer to take glycine supplements in a capsule, but this isn’t the only option.

What to Look for in a Good Glycine Supplement

As with any supplement, the most important thing you can do when shopping for a good glycine supplement is to look for a good brand. Since supplements aren’t as heavily regulated as prescription medications, not all brands deliver the same level of quality.

Some research can let you know if a maker has a dedication to using quality ingredients and if others who have purchased the supplement are satisfied with the results. Vegans and vegetarians may also want to pay extra attention to the label to ensure that the supplement only contains plant-based ingredients.

As long as you do your research, you can find a quality supplement that can be safely added to your healthy lifestyle.

Conclusion

Glycine is helpful to our bodies in many ways. It plays a key role in the formation of collagen. So, there is need to consume sufficient amounts of glycine each day. If you find it hard to consume most of the proteins that glycine, for example, if you are a vegetarian, you should consider taking supplements. In most cases, what you get from the food you eat may be a small percentage of what the body requires for metabolism.

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